Does that sound familiar? It should, because I am not just describing the situation that a majority of the Black world is engaged in; I am talking about the Bay Area, where most of the Bay View readers are located. Had there not been the Bay View newspaper or the Block Report Radio show, the story of police murder victim Gary King Jr. and police terrorism victim LaRonte Studesville would have been slow to get out, the case of the political prisoners Aaron Patterson, Mumia Abu Jamal, Imam Jamil Al-Amin, the Move 9, the San Francisco 8, just to name a few, would have been slow to get to the community.

In essence, we, as Black revolutionary-minded people, need to create more media-makers who see the world as we do and who can make media that heightens the contradiction between the people and the government, economic system, racists and sell-outs, with the understanding that we are still engaged in a war to prevent our genocidal removal from the planet.

I wrote all of this to illustrate the very real need that Black communities have all over the world to get access and gain control of the means of making media and get it distributed. One way that people can remedy this problem is by signing up for the KPFA First Voice Apprenticeship Program, where in 24 months and with $100, you can have the know-how to run an internationally listened to and multimedia-engaged station like KPFA.

I know that many have heard of the long-standing racist apartheid-like practices of KPFA, which in 2008 still does not have a weekly Black talk show that discusses the political affairs of Black people domestically, although KPFA is run by an East African woman interim general manager. We as a community cannot wait on a gesture of goodwill from one who has been in power for over a year, to accomplish what we think should have come out of political fights in the ‘60s and ‘70s - a Black show.

We have to continue to get our people trained while we gear up to fight this neo-colonialist racist regime that is currently in power at KPFA. The more politically-minded Black people that we have trained in the Bay Area, the more technical support we will have when this need is actualized. The more Black people we have trained in radio and multimedia, the less likely we will have to depend on our "liberal friends," who still have never echoed our need for a revolutionary Black political radio show at KPFA, among other needs.

If this is up your alley, you can call (510) 848-6767, ext. 235, or download an application at www.kpfa.org/apprentice/. The application deadline is coming right up: Applications must be received by Friday, Jan. 25, at 5 p.m. - no exceptions. Deliver yours in person.

Email POCC Minister of Information JR at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and visit www.blockreportradio.com, hiphopwarreport.com and myspace.com/blockreportfilm.

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